The Club Dust trips have a unique flavor or style. We believe that ministry should be fun, exciting, and involve everyone. Yes, everyone, young, old, male, female, Spanish speakers, English only speakers, no one is unqualified. We love to share with them the real life application of Christ's work through us. We also believe that as a Christ-centered ministry we can welcome non-Christians.  Our interaction together is good for all involved.

We are very clear in our charge as Christians to serve the poor (James 1:27). We just think it is great to have everyone and anyone join us in doing it. We think it gives everyone a great picture of practical Christianity in action.

The concept of serving both the homeless in Mexico and our own team members is important at Club Dust. We strive to dig deep into the experience of service and learn how it affects our lives by participating. Each team member will have a different experience and we encourage discussion and dialog at our group get togethers. We plan many fun activities where people can meet each other and learn from various viewpoints. These are an important part of our trips and we encourage you to consider this for yours as well.

We hope these notes are valuable in doing your own Christ-centered adventures. We encourage you to follow the Holy Spirit in creating your own service groups. You are welcome to use any of our ideas or contacts. We guess that you will find ways to do certain things better than we have. Please share your own experiences with us. That way we can continue to help others in the future.  This website is a living document and will improve as it is added to and modified over the years.  Your input and ideas will be helpful.

The best place to meet is the McDonald’s at the Otay Mesa Border.  They can meet you at McDonalds.  Once you are familiar with the show you can drive solo, but a guide makes things a lot easier at first. 

For the Tecate border there is a Payless Shoe Store on the right hand side of the border.  Cell phones work fine

Be sure to understand Mexico's laws on bringing in donations.  It is changing constantly.  It is currently prohibited to bring used clothing and items which might be sold at a flea market.  Permits to import are available.  Need to do advance planning.   We minimize the hassle by buying most of our supplies and donations in Mexico.  It also helps to support their local economy. 

A couple of great ideas for donations are to encourage your group to leave their sleeping bags at the end of the trip.  These are most valuable to the families trying to keep warm during the cold winter months.  Some of the groups have left as many as 50 sleeping bags that made the trip back home a little easier and less bulky.

Once in Mexico follow all traffic rules to the T. Using strong walkie-talkies between your caravan vehicles will help you to stay together. Maps of Mexico are marginal, as street name signs, do not exist in most areas. Your best bet is to note where your guide takes you and make notes, including your own maps. The roads during winter can be almost impassable after a rain. A good tow-rope is probably a standard winter necessity (although it is illegal to tow another car on paved roads with a rope). The dirt roads to the building sites are fine in summer.

If you need help hiring the local bus company please send us an e-mail and we can help with that.

If you get into an accident, move everyone away except the driver, translator, and yourself if necessary. Contact the Mexican agent on your insurance form before crossing the border. Your Guide can help too if he is with your caravan at the time of the accident. Your other team members should drive away to a pre-established meeting site. This will avoid them being involved in the legal hassle with the Mexican police.

Evening get together's are a great way to keep people entertained at the ranch during the evening. This reduces trouble or possible accidents in taking groups into Tijuana, Tecate, or Rosarito in the evenings.

A great M.C. should be selected far in advance of your trip. He or she should be well prepared with clean fill-in jokes, routines, skits and or props. You should notify your group through the advance mailings so they can prepare for the talent show. We at club dust normally have a theme  and it has worked out great.

Awards can be given for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place. These can be an edible prize or prizes that the whole group can share and enjoy. The M.C. can select the winners or you can have the audience participate in selecting the winner.

During or before the talent show do a team icebreaker. The purpose is to get to know everyone on your team. If your group has divided into house building teams, you can enter them as a group for the talent show night. These teams should compete in the talent show with either a group skit or their best representative.

Contact James Livingston at james@clubdust.org for questions on entertainment.

Each trip should have a construction supervisor. He or she is the person responsible for the completions of all the houses. Each individual building team which is responsible for a house has it’s own 'Housemaster' and an understudy.

Have building plans distributed to team leaders three months in advance and give one set to each supervisor, which details the building process systematically. Go to www.teamcasa.org for house plans and other useful tips.

Additional building questions can be directed to

Randy Strong at randy@clubdust.org